International Communist Party - The Communist Party in The Tradition of the Left

THE COMMUNIST PARTY IN THE TRADITION OF THE LEFT

International Communist Party (1974)

Introduction

September 1974

The following text uses quotations drawn from the most significant texts of the last fifty years (1920-1970) to re-propose the Marxist conception of the party and of the partys tasks, functions and organic dynamics. Under the crushing blows of the Stalinist counter-revolution and no less fetid post-Stalinism, only the Communist Left of Italy managed to keep this conception in line with that of Marx, Lenin and the III International, by constantly defending and restoring it in the face of every deviation, and codifying it in theses and texts which constitute the objective result of the historic experience of the proletarian struggle and the world communist movement.

The text presents the quotations in chronological order and subdivided according to topic. In each chapter there is an introduction which serves to place them in their relevant context and highlight the implications and consequences of the thought they express. Since in fact the statements contained in each of the parts constitute an inseparable whole, a unity of positions running in perfect continuity along the thread of time, the subdivision into chapters and titles is of a purely technical and functional character.

For the most part the quotations are drawn from the following texts, to which we refer readers and militants who wish to read them in their entirety:

Theses on the Role of the Communist Party in the Proletarian Revolution, 1920

Party and Class, 1921

Party and Class Action, 1921

The Democratic Principle, 1922

The Tactics of the Communist International, 1922

The Rome Theses, 1922

Theses of the P.C.dI. at the IV Congress of the C.I., 1922

Communist Organisation and Discipline, 1924

Motion of the Left of the P.C.dI. at the National Conference in Como, 1924

Lenin on the Path of Revolution, 1924

The Lefts Speeches and Motions at the V Congress of the C.I., 1924

The Lefts Platform, 1925

The International and the Dangers of Opportunism, 1925

The Lyon Theses, 1926

Speech by the Lefts Representative at the IV Session of the 6 th ECCI, 1926

The Partys Political Platform, 1945

Post-war Perspectives in Relation to the Partys Platform, 1946

The Historical Cycle of Bourgeois Political Domination, 1947

The Historical Course of the Proletarian Class Movement, 1947

Nature, Function and Tactics of the Revolutionary Party of the Workig Class, 1947

Force, Violence and Dictatorship in the Class Struggle, 1948

General Guiding Principles, 1949

Characteristic Theses of the Party, 1951

Dogs Legs, 1952

Essential Politics (Politique dabord), 1952

The Corpse Still Walks, 1953

The Great Man in History, 1953

Croaking Praxis, 1953

The "Racial" Pressure of the Peasantry..., 1953

Russia and Revolution in the Marxist Theory, 1955

Dialogue with the Dead, 1956

Economic and Social Structure of Russia Today, 1957

Notes for the Theses on the Question of Organisation, 1964

Considerations on the Organic Activity of the Party..., 1965

Theses on the World C.Ps Historical Task, Action and Structure..., 1965

Supplementary Theses on the Historical Task..., 1966

Continuity of Action of the Party in Line with the Tradition of the Left, 1967

Introductions to the Volume "In Defence of the Continuity of the Communist Programme", 1970

As the reader can see, it is all the historical patrimony of the Communist Left and of the International Communist Party which arose on the basis of Communist lefts positions in 1952, and it is here reclaimed and restated in its entirety.

The necessity for a comprehensive restating of this historic patrimony is linked to the troubling events which have affected the organisation of the International Communist Party over the past few years, prompting the need for a new party organ, Il Partito Comunista , to be set up as the organisational point of reference for all those wishing to militate on the Lefts positions. Only in total allegiance to these positions can the International Communist Party arise, develop and survive; that is, only on these genuinely Marxist foundations can the compact and powerful World Communist Party, indispensable organ of the proletarian revolution and the class dictatorship which will follow, be organised.

June 1974

Although weve had several requests for "texts" from ex-members and people we dont know, the text which follows, like the letter-circulars leading up to it, is addressed exclusively to party members. Clearly we havent satisfied the curiosity which has been aroused over the last few months by the notorious communiqus in Programma Comunista , culminating in that frosty warning which should be consigned to some museum of monstrosities.

Rejected by the Centre as total and absolute rubbish, this work is a modest contribution which amplifies a proposal made some years ago. Maybe if the compass hadnt spun out of control, it would have appeared in the columns of Programma Comunista , instead of all those dubious articles on organisation.

Comrades will note that nine tenths of the work is composed of excerpts from our fundamental texts, arranged according to subject, covering a fifty year time span, and standing in confirmation of the continuity and invariance of the positions of the Communist Left, ever faithful to revolutionary Marxism.

But the task doesnt stop there. Marx and Lenin need to be studied too. Indeed the work is already well underway, and will soon be the subject of a second pamphlet.

As the continuer of the tradition bearing the names of Marx and Lenin, referring to the Communist Left should suffice; but with things they way they are, when the next falsification, manipulation or arbitrary interpretation may occur at any time, and, moreover, be committed by those from whom you least expect it, we are forced to go back to the basics on all questions, grasping the thread of time as far back as we can. And that, in fact, is the classical method we have always subscribed to.

The text, then, merely proposes to correctly restate postulates we all know and we all once accepted, even if we didnt always agree with them; postulates worked out by generations of past and present militants with the aim of strengthening and spreading the fighting party organisation; a party whose continuous development is assured by this continuous and unremitting work.

That, then, is the road we need to take. There is no other way. There are no new decisions to be taken, restructurings to be carried out, or modifications to be made under the specious and ever dubious pretext of impending new situations. The party forges its organs through action, in the measure that the various forms of action require them, adapting or substituting them with more suitable ones out of organic necessity; it doesnt claim that the perfection of these organs, their automatism , can be a surrogate for correct action; as though everything was to do with organisation a typical error of the activist variety in the field of organisation. The party organisation does not arise in vitro , in the fallacious laboratory of the brain, independent from the class struggles actual development. That would mean creating a lovely little model of a party, but not a real "compact and powerful" party whose instruments of battle are forged in the furnace of social struggle.

The feverish pursuit of perfectionism and automatism entails an error which spreads from the organisational field to the tactical one and affects the nature and functioning of the party. Pointed out many times by the Left to the International, the error consisted in the belief that a strong organisation can achieve anything (with strong meaning subordinate to any centralism whatsoever and ready to lend itself to any manoeuvre). Give us a Bolshevik organisation and everything is permitted. Lets build a disciplined, all-purpose party and victory will be assured.